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by J. G. Parish (Author)
The White Knights A major misconception of Southern American history of that everyone owned slaves and were hard core Confederates. But there were Union sympathizers all over the south who remained loyal to the Union, and many paid the price with their lives. Knight's Company was such a band of Confederate army "deserters: that turned against the Confederacy during the Civil War. Knights formed after the fall of Vicksburg, when the struggling white farmer boys were disheartened in fighting a "rich man's war". Knight's Company was composed of approximately 125 men from Jones, Jasper, Covington, and Smith counties who organized to defend themselves against the Confederates. Many of the men came from families who bore patriotic given names as Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. Furthermore, many did not own slaves and were fighting a rich man's war. There were Union sympathizers just like them across the south, who also faced execution and hardships of not being behind the Southern cause. Confederate officials, embarrassed and enraged by the Knight's defiance, sent Col. Robert Lowry with bloodhounds to flush the Knight men out of the swamps. Many were killed. Some escaped to join the regular Union Army after making their way to New Orleans. This book is a short guide to some of the men who were members of Knight's Company. For a more complete review of the fascinating stories of the Knights we recommend Victoria E. Bynum's book, The Free State of Jones. These men are also the subject of a major motion picture being released on June 24.
